Final Fantasy XV - before the Journey
by AkaiArashi1
Summary: One change in the past, changes the future drastically. Everything starts 4 years before the game. What will Noctis do, once he sees, that a friend, he didn't see in years comes right to him. Kind of AU.
1. Prologue

**I don't own Final Fantasy XV. Square Enix does.**

* * *

It was boring. The teacher, standing in front of his board writing formulas on how to solve a mathematical question wasn't even minding what the students did. The teacher, Mr Takeda was an old man. Early fifties would be his guess, but he was sure, that the teacher would leave for retirement. He was well liked from the students. He didn't force anyone to listen to his lessons.

"It's your own fault if you fail and end up cleaning the toilets of other people", is what he always said. And guess what? No one, except for the class rep, was listening. He already knew those things, Ignis teached him a few months ago, so why did he have to go to school? Because his father, the king of Lucis, wanted him to have a normal live, living and being social with the people, that he was going to rule one day. So he sat there yawning and thinking what he could do after school. He was close to only one person in this classroom and that was Prompto, the blond haired guy sitting a few seats to his right. He saw him in middle school and met him for real in high school. They had a few same interests, like kings of knight, playing video games or just being lazy. And even if he would be sitting next to him, Prompto always slept through this class. What a lucky guy, could sleep almost everywhere. But he couldn't do that, he needed at least something soft to lay his head upon. Like a pillow or his jacket but that wouldn't work because, the teacher always complained when there was something else on the table then the things needed for school. He scoffed. 'But a head was alright?' He asked himself.

After looking what the others did, mostly talking to their neighbours or texting on their phones he looked at the clock, 35 minutes to go.

 _'It's boring, do something'_ he texted Prompto. Feeling the buzzing of his phone Prompto lifted his head and looked at the phone and then at Noctis. He lifted one eyebrow and texted him back.

 _'What do you want me to do? Dance on the table or what?'_ Noctis held back a laughter. His shoulders shaking.

 _'That would actually be a good idea. I would even be willing to throw a few gil'_ Prompto smirked and shook his head.

 _'Sorry, Noct. I only do that for cute girls.'_

 _'Too bad but it's allright. Why don't you have a girlfriend yet? You're popular with the people and a lot of the girls like you'_

 _'Well, maybe I would have a girlfriend but most of the girls here, have a crush on certain prince. Why don't you get one?'._

 _'Not interested.'_

 _'You already have one, right?'_ Even without looking, he could feel Prompto looking and smirking at him.

 _'Why don't you sing?'_ He asked Prompto to change the subject.

 _'Meh, my voice isn't the best for singing, you know that'_

 _'True, even Titan could sing better than you.'_

 _'Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?'_

 _'Nothing forget it'_ Noctis smiled to himself and looked over to Prompto who was glaring at him. After that, a girl next to him, he couldn't properly remember her name. Maki? Or was it Maya? Didn't matter. So he busied himself with his phone again, this time writing to Ignis.

 _'Are you coming over to cook again?'_ He waited 5 seconds and immediately got a reply which made him frown.

 _'Aren't you in class? Listen to the teacher'_

 _'Just asked a question'_ he tipped in and murmured it to himself.

 _'Don't ask'_ was the answer he got.

 _'If you would answer the question, I wouldn't have to write so much'_ Noctis wrote back.

 _'Yes, I'm coming.'_ Noctis didn't write back after that.

He looked at the clock again. 20 minutes. He sighed, 'couldn't something exciting happen? Anything but this lessons.'

He didn't know if it was pure luck or his wishes becoming true but right then, the principal came in. The class representative standing up and commanding everyone else to do the same. He did the same, standing up slowly and sluggishly and as soon as he stood there she gave the next command, "bow" so he did. Not as good as the others but he did bow a bit. Even if its just his head. The other students stood tall again and she gave her third and last command. "Sit". He fell down on his chair and waited what the principal was going to say.

The men was old. Probably in his sixty. His head almost fully bald, except for a few gray hair standing out. He wasn't skinny or fat just average. The most noticeable point was, that he was small. A head smaller than him. The principal looked around the classroom and cleared his throat.

"First, I want to congratulate everyone passing the first year", the old men said, smiling at them. There were a few thanks murmured and the principal continued. "I know this is sudden, but you guys are getting a transfer student." There were shocked exclamations since it wasn't normal for someone to transfer in the start of the second year. Noctis smiled to himself.

'A new student huh? That's great he or she will introduce himself and it will take 15 to 20 minutes. That means only a bit more and we're done for today'. He laid his head on the table and closed his eyes. 'I want to go home'.

"You can come in now," the principal said and the door slowly opened. He could hear the steps as someone walked to the front and heard murmurs of how beautiful she was.

'A girl' he thought, not really interested. "Allright, introduce yourself a bit" the teacher said. The principal excused himself and went out probably to his office. There was a few seconds of silence where no one said anything and then the girl began to talk.

"My name is Lunafreya-" his eyes snapped open, 'no, this can't be, right?' He asked himself. "But my friends call me Luna. I'm not from Insomnia but I hope that I will come to love this place. I like reading, playing with my two dogs and hanging around with friends. I can't do that that much anymore with my old friends, but I hope that I will meet great people here. Nice to meet you everyone" she said and bowed. He looked up and he couldn't believe it. He didn't see her in years but he knew it was her. He never saw those kind of hair colour on anyone else and she was standing right there, in front of him, wearing the school uniform! He stood up slowly, a few people looked at him curious what he would do.

"Luna," he said slowly. She looked up and their eyes met. Her eyes widened and they looked at each other like that a few seconds and then a wide smile grew on her face.

"Noct!"

* * *

This, is my first time, that I write and Uploud a story, so I'm really new to this. I really liked FFXV, and wanted to write a "what if" situation and this came up. I'm planing, on doing two story parts, Noctis' life in Insomnia with Luna there and the second one will be much much later, when he travels the world. Since I'm new to this, if you have any suggestions or advices, please tell me. I'm not sure, how long I will take, to update this but I'll try my best. Will probably change the title and Summary, couldn't come up with anything better.

The characters, may seem a bit OC but I'll try my best to do them as original as possible. Luna will have the biggest changes, because she is the same age as Noctis in this story. If you have any questions, don't hesitate and ask please. And if you find grammatical errors, or misspellings, please point them out.

Thank you everyone for reading!


	2. The reason I'm here

I'm really sorry about the really late update. Had a lot to do for work and uni. But still, it's out now.  
Thank you to everyone following, favoring and reviewing the story! I'll answer/write something to your reviews at the end of the chapter.

I couldn't edit this one again, because I wanted to upload it as soon as possible.

On a side note, I wanted to ask your opinion on something, regarding the future of the story.  
1\. Should I use the Japanese suffixes like -san, -sama or -sensei? Or should I only use English?  
2\. I thought of adding more Astral. I like the six but it's kind of lacking. In the other games there were always a lot more. I would also like to change how they are summoned. Not in every fight but when they want to. In the game they only appear once in what feels like hours.  
3\. What I want to add too is, a few more races. Like the Viera in FF12. They wouldn't appear until after Noct and his friends start the journey.

What would you think? Good idea or shouldn't I change things like this?

* * *

"Noct!" She called out, surprised but happy at the same time, smiling from one ear to the other. The others looked from Luna to Noct, not knowing what to do.

"You know each other?" Mr Takeda asked and Luna nodded.

"Yes, we're childhood friends," she answered. The teacher nodded and stroke his little mustache he had.

"Alright then. Ryu, change your seat and sit there at the back," Takeda said and pointed at the empty chair at the far back of the room. "Alright!" Ryu almost yelled happily. "Luna, you know Noctis and it will probably help you to get accustomed to this school if you sit beside him. You probably don't have the books either, so you can share with him until you get yours." Luna nodded her head and said her thanks, walked to the table left to Noctis and sat there. The teacher looked at the clock that was above the board that he was writing on and saw, that the lesson would end in 5 minutes.

"You're dismissed," he told the class and looked at Noctis. "Noctis, please show Luna around, so that she knows where she needs to go tomorrow," and left the room. A few seconds passed and only a few people where left in the room, one of them being Prompto.

"Are you going to show her around the school now?" He asked, throwing an arm around Noctis who stood up a seconds earlier. Noctis nodded, "the sooner we're done, the sooner we can go home. What are you going to do?"

"I don't know, don't have anything to do," Prompto answered, scratching his chin. "Why don't you join us?" Luna asked and the two guys looked at her. Promptos face brightened up and asked "is it fine?"

Luna nodded and smiled at him, "yes! I would love to meet friends of Noct." And so Noctis and Prompto showed Luna the important rooms in their school. Places where she could enjoy eating while the weather was warm, where she could buy food if she forgot hers, where the teachers lounge was, the student council room and a few more. And almost the whole time, the only one talking were Prompto and Luna. Noctis was in deep thoughts.

'How did she come here? Lucis isn't friendly with Niflheim. She either ran away or was sent here for a purpose. I should ask her later, no one knows that she's the oracle'.

A hand was on his shoulder, "Hey Noct!"  
Noctis looked up and saw, Luna and Prompto looking at him. "What" he asked confused.

"I called you a few times, whats wrong" Noctis shook his head. "Something was on my mind, sorry. What did you want to ask?"

"We're done with showing around, right? Want to grab something to eat?"

"Ah, sorry won't work today. Ignis is coming over". Prompto nodded, "Alright then, let's go home" he said and they walked out of school together.

"Where do you live, Luna?" Noctis asked while they were walking. "I don't know the adress but I know the way back" she answered with a smile.

"Allright then, let's go" Prompto said and followed Luna close by, Noctis right beside her. Even though she came the same way in the morning, it still fascinated her, how many people were on the streets. It was full of life. People going to work or back home, hanging around with friends or just walking around. She really loved this city. She didn't notice the smile that Noctis had while she was looking around fascinated. They walked the same way for a few minutes until Prompto had to go another way.

"Well, this is where we part. See you two tomorrow," he waved at them with a big grin. Luna waved back and Noctis nodded at him.

"See you tomorrow" she called back.  
"I can't believe how you came friends with him" Luna said when they continued walking. Noctis eyebrow rose.

"Why not. What's wrong with Prompto," he asked. Luna shook her head. He misunderstood.

"There's nothing wrong with him. He's just the opposite of you, you know. Talks a lot, is positive."

"Well, that just shows how great I am," he answered with a smirk. Luna pushed him away.

"Really? I think Prompto is the great one, getting a broody guy like you to become his friend" she smirked at him.

"Why you!" He tried to grab her but she dodged it at the last second and started running. "Catch me slowpoke" she yelled back laughing. Noctis, accepting the challenge started running after her.

"Do you even know where you are running?" He yelled and a few seconds after he was able to catch her. Luna was breathing a bit too hard.

"You sure don't have stamina" he said and smirked at her. Luna sputtered a bit and said: "I'm not doing that much sports".

"You shouls definitely start or you'll be fat by next year,"

"I'll not!" She yelled at him and hit him.

"You sure don't lack strength," he said rubbing his sore back. After a few minutes of walking they came in front of Noct door.

"Uh, you want to come in?" He asked her not sure why she followed him. He unlocked the door and Luna came in afterwards.

"It sure is messi," she said looking around. "Sorry, wasn't expecting visitors. Why did you even come in?" He asked her taking of his jacket.

"You inveted me."

"Yeah, but you followed me here"

"I didn't follow you" she said. Noctis was about to close the door.

"What?" He asked not sure what she was saying. "I'm your new neighbour. The apartment across is where I live." She laughed at his shocked look.

"You live right there?" He said, opened the door and pointed at the one in front of him. At the exact same moment, the door opened and a black haired women came out.

"Oh, Prince Noctis and Luna," she looked at Luna first and then at Noctis.

"Looks like we're neighbours" luna answered her unasked question.

"So that's the surprised, that king Tegis mentioned," Gentiana muttered.

"You've talked to my father?"

"Yes, when we came here, he got us this place and the school transfer" Gentiana explained.

"Why didn't he say anything to me?"

"I'm not sure, maybe he wanted to surprise you." Noctis didn't say anything for a few seconds and then looked at Gentiana again.

"You want to come in too? It's a bit messi though." Gentiana shook her head, her hair going from left to right.

"No thank you, but I need to talk to the King, I'll leave now, if you'd excuse me." Noctis nodded and waved after her. He closed the door, and mentioned Luna to follow. He threw his bag in to the corner and fell down on the couch that was in front of the TV. Luna looked around a bit. It wasn't a big apartment, only three rooms, the living room where she was right now, and two doors. One probably being Noctis, bed room and one she didn't know. The door was closed. To the right of the couch was a veranda, the view was good as far as she could see. To the left was the kitchen, separated by a wall which had an opening like a big window. The kitchen was the only clean place as far as she could see.

"Do you want something to drink or eat?" Noctis asked taking out his phone. Luna shook her head.

"No thanks. What are you doing the whole day here?"

"Not much. Watching TV, playing games or just taking a nap."

"You never go out?"

"Sometimes with Prompto or Ignis". She hummed at that. And there was a comfortable silence for a few minutes until Noctis broke it.

"Why are you here?"

"You want me to go?"

"No, I meant, how are you here. In Lucis. Our countries are not exactly.. friendly."

"I'm not sure about that either," Luna answered with a shrug.

"Wha-" he was interrupted by the door bell. "I'll look who's here". He stood up, kicking a few clothes to the side and opened the door. The person standing there was Ignis, in his hands plastic bags full of ingredients. Noctis stepped aside and let him in. Not waiting a second longer Ignis went straight to the kitchen, putting the plastic bags on the counter and rubbed his hands, where some small marks where left.

"Anything specific you want?" He asked Noctis looking through the opening of the wall. Noctis shook his head. "Shouldn't have vegetables in it". Ignis saw that Luna was sitting there.  
"I didn't know, that you have a guest over".

"Wasn't planed. But this is Luna. You should remember her."

"You mean Lady Luna, of Tenebrea?" Noctis nodded. "Yes. She moved here. Was about to explain why."

"I would like to know too. Do you mind if I listen?" He took out the ingredients and placed them in the right places.

"No, it's fine. You would hear it anyway."

"I'll explain from the start. It happened-" she was interrupted by the door again. This time there was pounding too. Sounded like the person in front of the door had it urgent. "I'm coming!" He called out. He sighed and moved to the door opening it. Someone crashed into him. And of course, it was Prompto.

"What's wrong? A Behemoth chasing you?" Prompto was out of breath, taking huge amounts of air in.

"Do you.. know where she is?" He gasped out, gripping Noctis' shoulder.

"She? You mean Luna? She's inside," he answered and not a second later was Noctis running up to Luna.

"Lady Luna!" He called bowing down straight.

"Lady?" Noctis asked after closing the door. "Yeah, I mean she's a princess right?" Noctis was surprised, no one in his class knew about her, so how did Prompto find out?

"Lady Luna, how is tiny doing? I mean Pryna" Prompto asked.

"Pryna? Wait a second, Prompto? As in the one who nursed Pryna to health?" He nodded at her. "I knew your name was familiar. So it's because of that!" She smiled at him.

"Yes! I got your letter a few days after Pryna vanished.".

"Pryna? Letter? Whats going on? You two know each other?" Noctis asked confused.

"More or less. You remember when I visited you a few years ago right?" Noctis nodded.

"I sent Pryna to you but on her way, she injured her leg and didn't come home a day. When she came, there was this cloth on his leg and Prompto's name was written on it. So I sent him a letter and thanking him for it." Prompto nodded with a big smile on his head.

"how is he? Where is he? Can I play with him?"

"He's not here right now, he's in my hometown," Prompto's head hung a bit after that.

"Wait home? Aren't you from Tenebrea? How come that you're here? Lucis isn't friendly with Niflheim," Prompto said scratching his head.

"That's what I was going to explain. If you want to, you can listn to it too. Because you know who I am."

Prompto sat to the left of Noctis, who was in the middle of the couch. Ignis went to the door but stopped after Noctis called out to him.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't have enough for four people so I'm going to the market across. You can tell me the story later."

"Allright. Ok, Luna. Hopefully there won't be any interruptions anymore. You can start with what happened a few days ago".

Luna nodded, making herself comfortable. "Ok. Well.. everthing started a few days ago. It was in the middle of the night. Probably around 1 or 2 o 'clock."

Flashback 3 days ago.

Luna was getting ready to head to bed. It was late and she was really exhausted. Healing the people took a lot of her energy. As soon as she was inside her comfy bed, she drifted off in a dreamless sleep. After what felt like 30 minutes her door slammed open. She woke up, startled and looked at who it was. Ravus.

She didn't see him in years. But what got her attention was, that he was out of breath. 'Did he ran here?'

"What are-" she was interrupted as Ravus literally yanked her out of bed.

"You're going. Pack your things" he said.

"What are you talking about? Did you finally go insane?"

"I said pack your things. Don't ask." She didn't move for 10 seconds, still not understanding what was going on. Ravus growled and then sighed. He grabbed her bag and threw clothes in it and threw the bag at her which she catched.

"What's going on?" She tried again but he didn't answer, he grabbed her arm and took her with him. On the front door, was Gentiana waiting patiently.

"Gentiana? What's going on? Where am I going?" Gentiana shook her head.

"I don't know either. I was asked to come here without any reason. It looks like we're going somewhere."

"Yes. Your leaving Tenebrea together with Luna. Everything's ready," Ravus said and opened the door. It was dark outside but she could still see a car in the distance.

"Leaving Tenebrea? I'm not going to Niflheim!" She yanked her arm away from him and stepped back.  
"I won't go to the people that killed my mother and destroyed everything that I loved."

"I'm against it too. She's more needed here," Gentiana supported Luna.

"You're not going to Niflheim," he opened the drivers seat and threw the bag to the back. There was someone else in the Co-driver seat but she didn't know him. Looked like a bodyguard. What she could make out with almost no light was, that he had dark hair either brown or black. His hair, was short on the sides but long on the back and he had a mole under his right eye. "Come in already," it was clear that Ravus had to hurry. His fingers tapping against the steering wheel.

"Not until you tell me where we're going" she crossed her arms and didn't move. Ravus sighed.

"Fine. We're going to Lucis. Insomnia to be exact". His expression didn't change but Luna's did. She was shocked. Ravus hated Lucis. Why would he even let her go there?

"W-why? You hated them".

"I still do. But I can't tell you everything now. We need to leave!" There was a loud sound coming from behind the palace and they could see light flickering. Fire. Something was burning! Before she could even take the first step she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. It was Ravus'.

"I'll look. Don't worry about anything just go."

"What abo-" she was stopped by Ravus.

"I said don't worry. I'll deal with it and come to you later. I'll explain everything then. Just be patient and go with him. He'll protect you until you're in Insmnia". Luna nodded slowly and entered the car. The guy, who was sitting on the Co-driver seat, was already sitting in front of the wheel and started the car.

"Promise that you'll explain everything when you come". She didn't know, that her voice could sound so.. desperate. Like she would never see Ravus again.

"We'll see". It was the first time in years that Ravus had smiled at her or in general. He always had this frown that made him look like an emotionless soldier. But she liked it. Ravus was always so warm and welcoming but then the incident happened and he changed. She couldn't reply because the car started to drive away. When she looked back again Ravus was running to the burning place.

Present

"That's what happened before I came here. Ravus planned everything. The drive to Altissia. The boat, middle in the night. It's forbidden to take out a boat ride in the night, because there could be daemons in the water, but we still got one. When we came to Lucis, the guy who said, that he only followed orders, got us another car and we came here without even stopping once. That was yesterday. He brought us to the palace, where we spoke to the King. He knew that we would come. But he didn't know the reason, just, that Ravus asked him, if I could stay here. So he did everything related to me moving to the new apartment and the transfer to the new school."

"Whoa, that was a long story, Prompto said still processing everything.

"So, you don't know the reason, why you're here?" Luna shook her head in a No. "Doesn't matter anyway. You wanted to see the city and now, you live here."

"The food is ready, do you want to eat now or later?"

"When did you come?" Noctis asked surprised.

"Middle of the story," Ignis answered while putting the plates on the table.

"I sure am hungry" Prompto said and was the first one walking to the kitchen. Luna followed him and Noctis was the last to arrive.

"I hope you like it, Lady Luna. I wasn't sure, how you would like the seasoning."

"I'm sure it's delicious. Noct always said, that you could cook great. And Luna is fine, no need for the Lady."

"Yeah. She doesn't behave Ladylike at all" Noctis said behind a smirk. The smirk vanished and a pained expression came with a yelp. Luna, who was sitting on the left to Noctis kicked him under the table. Prompto giggled behind his hand but didn't say anything and even Ignis smiled.

"You should look out Noctis. She can Noct you out". There was a 10 seconds silence.

"Did, did you just make a pun?" Noctis didn't get an answer to that.

"Aren't you the next prince? You should learn how to treat a Lady. You really lack the gentleman part."

"A real Lady doesn't hit someone under the table," he muttered rubbing his ankle. Luna didn't comment on that but she started eating.

"It's delicious!" Luna exclaimed.

"Right? Ciggy makes the best food in Insomnia" Prompto agreed.

"Thank you, Lady Luna. You'll make me embarrassed."

"I already told you, there is no need for Lady."

"As you wish".

"You're going with us to school now, right?" Prompto asked after he swallowed the food.

"Yes. I still don't have the books but Noctis will be glad to share them. Right?"

"Sure, if I don't forget them".

"Noctis doesn't take his books with him".

"I'll make sure he does," she smiled that dangerous smile that she had, when she was about to prank someone.

"Wait, wait, wait. I know that smile! I had to feel it often enough already!" Noctis stood up from the table and walked two steps back, his back on the fridge.

"What do you mean? I'll just remind you". Noctis snorted at that.

"Yeah tell that to someone else. Do you remember the first time, you made cookies? You had the same smile back then!"

"What cookies I want to know too," Prompt whined.

"I'm interested about it too".

"A few years ago we went to visit Luna and her family. It was before I had the injury. Ravus, her brother never really liked me. Don't ask me why. Anyway, Luna said, that she had a surprise for me and that I should wait in the garden for her, which I did. Around a few minutes later she came with a plate full of cookies. Said, come on take it! It's my first time making them!" Noctis tried imitating her voice.

"And I did! You know what happened? She put chilies in them! I almost died! That's not even the worst yet! Ravus came right after I ate mine and saw the cookies she had. Asked who made them. She said, that I, the innocent me, wanted him, to eat this special cookie. And he did. It was the same. A really spicy cookie. He chased after me for the whole time we were there. I had to hide like 80% of the time. She didn't even tell him the truth". Noctis ended his speech with a shudder. Remembering the time he had to eat the cookie. Since then, he was scared of them, never able to eat it.

Prompto was laying on the floor, laughing and not stopping. Even Ignis was laughing loudly and he never laughed! Luna giggled, remembering the same.

"Hey that's not funny!" Moments later, when they were able to control their laughter, Prompto spoke up.

"Just imagining you, running away from her brother was good enough."

"I did

tell him, that it was me, that made the cookies," Luna explained. "But he never believed me".

"I really don't want to meet him again. He'll probably try to skewer me with a sword next time".

"Yeah, that's possible," Luna said with a smile. Ignis took the dishes that they used and started washing them and Prompto helped him out.

"I should be going now. Gentiana is probably back. See you two tomorrow. Bye Ignis, your food was really great!" She got a bye from Prompto and a thanks from Ignis before she went out. Noctis followed her to the door.

"See you tomorrow," he said when she opened her own door.

"Yes. Let's walk together to school again."

"Sure. I'll come and get you then at 7.30." Luna smiled and nodded at him, then closed the door.

After that, nothing happened. Ignis went home after washing the dishes and Prompto stayed for another hour and left then too. He had nothing to do, but decided to clean up a bit.  
It's not how someone especially the prince should invite guests over when the room was as messy as this. After 30 minutes, he was done and dead tired. He went straight to his bed and threw himself on it. It didn't even take 2 minutes until he was asleep.

* * *

LightCamellia

Thank you very much for correcting the errors that I made. I'm sure, that I wouldn't even see half of them. I tend to skip things when I already know what's going to happen next. Thanks again!

KingPlotBunny  
This should kind of answer your question haha. You'll see the reason why Ravus almost forces her to go in the future. Probably a lot later. Thanks for reading though!

Midnight Conversations  
Took me a while but it's up! Thanks for reading!


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